During the recent snow, Children of Mine and I had embarked on an Arctic Adventure (to the local shops), bumping into friends on the way there via the local copse known as ‘The Plantation’. Before I knew it I had opened my mouth to invite nine children and four adults back to mine for a cuppa. With adults snugly in the warm kitchen, the children – to be more accurate, just the boys – had begun to terrorise the pristine peacefulness that had been my winter wonderland and within minutes had managed to snap off all the icicles that had been slowly descending from the roof of the wooden cabin.
“But I haven’t taken a photo of them yet!” I cried. Later that day, undeterred by seeing the remains of those beautiful icicles lying smashed and shattered on the frozen ground, we gathered up the best of what was left of them in a bucket and set about creating a snowy birthday cake, complete with icicle candles, on top of the small hexagonal table on our patio.
And here’s the resulting photograph. Captured like this; set so eerily against the silhouette of the trees and the fading sun to the west, it reminds me of a
sci-fi film I once saw as a child. It was a black and white, 1950s B-movie type, that I remember watching on what was probably a rainy Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The plot, as I recall it, involved some kind of alien species that had fallen to Earth, creating what appeared to be columns of black carbon that grew out of the ground across the suburbs of a quiet American town. The columns grew ever larger, until they were eventually the size of skyscrapers; towering over the town and causing havoc by collapsing, damaging property, injuring civilians and destroying a nearby dam.
Husband of Mine remembers this film too – and we believe we probably watched it at the same moment, one weekend sometime in the late ’70s, when he was about 10 and I was about 9. Over the years I have asked many people about it and there are some who’ve said, “Yes! I saw that too!”, and some who have even remembered the film’s title. I am cross with myself for never writing down the title, as I’d love to watch it again with the Family and see how little it scares those Children of Mine.
So. If you know the title, why not indulge me and reply to this post. Come on, sci-fi fans – what are you waiting for?
highonahill 
Hey Friend of Mine, love the blog, such subtle references! I’ll be reading, so keep writing. Sorry haven’t the foggiest about that sci fi film you are talking about.
Thanks for reading. I’m glad you like my outlet for my mid-life crisis and I’m very impressed you read far enough to understand the Doctor Who connection… Let’s just not use this constant flow of ‘news’ as an excuse not to do lunch again soon!
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